The outgoing Continental Flying Spur was introduced in 2005 as essentially a four-door Continental GT—hardly a bad thing, as it was quite sporty for its size and class. For its latest Flying Spur, Bentley is set on expanding the sedan’s popularity to the chauffeured set, placing new importance on those riding in the back seats of its fast four-door.

More Than Two Additional Doors

Starting with the Flying Spur’s sheetmetal, Bentley has massaged the Continental’s look into something akin to a sleeker version of its larger, chauffeur-friendly Mulsanne sedan. The big Bentley’s handsome roofline and rear shoulder kick-up are grafted onto the Flying Spur, and the grille is more upright than before. The Flying Spur remains bookended by Continental-like front and rear fascias, although its two outer headlight units now are larger than the inboard ones—a size relationship that’s flipped on the two-door Continental. The changes subtly amp up the Flying Spur’s presence, mostly by highlighting the four-door’s length advantage over the Conti GT coupe and GTC convertible.

MARC URBANO, JOHN LAMM, THE MANUFACTURER

Underneath the fresh skin, the Flying Spur’s structure has been stiffened by reinforcements to the B-pillars, front crossmembers, and sill areas. Bentley claims a modest four-percent increase in torsional stiffness relative to the old car, but the old car already was pretty tight. An aluminum hood and front fenders, as well as a composite trunklid, offset the added weight of these enhancements. Bentley says that the Flying Spur is 110 pounds lighter overall than before.

Everything inside is all-new, with the exception of the sun visors, grab handles, armrests, and portions of the center console. Buyers can choose between a four- or five-seat cabin layout, the former replacing the center rear seat with a full-length console. The leather that covers nearly everything is available in 12 different colors, and seven wood veneers are on offer. (This is just the standard palette; write a large enough check and you get whatever colors you want.) In case you were curious, nearly 108 square feet of wood is employed in each Flying Spur—all of it sustainably sourced, of course. All seats are heated and ventilated, there are power-operated sunshades for the rear windows, and a drink chiller—that’s a refrigerator to you, plebem—is available for rear-seat passengers.